Hours after the Army’s operations in Myanmar, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said tonight that the strikes were a message to all countries, including Pakistan, and groups harbouring “terror intent” towards India that “we will strike at a place and at a time of our choosing.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, Rathore, a retired Colonel from the Army, said, “It was a much-needed decision that was taken by the Prime Minister. This decision was extremely bold in nature. And it involved our Special Forces crossing the border and going deep into another country.”

Rathore added that intelligence reports were that “there were two camps preparing another strike on India” and these two camps were geographically distant from each other. “Both camps were struck and were completely annihilated. The Special Forces returned without a single casualty,” the minister said.

Earlier, choosing #ManipurRevenge and #56inchRocks as hashtags in his tweets, Rathore tweeted, “A salute to Indian Army for #ManipurRevenge strike. Massive political will displayed by our strong @PMOIndia @narendramodi @manoharparrikar.”

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In another tweet, Rathore said, “Indian Army strikes into the heart of militants.

The minister said that today’s action could become possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to various countries wherein “India’s intention towards a friendly neighbourhood and commitment towards mutual development was made as evident as its zero-tolerance towards terror”.

“We will not tolerate any strikes on India or Indians. We’ll always wield the initiative on either being friendly or engaging in aggressive action. We will strike at a place and at a time of our choosing,” Rathore said, underlining this as the “essence of warfare”.

Asked whether India could engage in similar surgical strikes on terror groups in Pakistan, Rathore said, “This is a message for all countries, including Pakistan, and groups harbouring terror intent towards India. A terrorist is a terrorist and has no other identity. We will strike when we want to.”

Asked how deep the Indian Army’s Special Forces went inside the Myanmar territory, Rathore said that “it was deep enough for the terrorists to feel safe”. On whether Myanmar’s help was taken, he said, “Myanmar is a friendly nation and they always cooperate.”

Myanmar Government's tacit consent surely pla a part in this successful cross border strike by Indian Army. Well done on both political and Army fronts. Now, can we ever expect such cooperation from rogue stan? The last surgical strike against terrorists based in stan had some effect which has obviously worn out as can be seen from the resumption of cross border firing by stanis. Pursuit is the answer after a successful military operation. Unfortunately we are not pursuing with the result our border area po tion is suffering loss of life and property. Selection and maintenance of Aim is an establish mode of operations. Do we have an Aim at the political level? I wonder!!